A 22-day ban is in force to let brood hilsa spawn, yet rice eateries in markets along the Meghna in Matlab Uttar upazila, Chandpur, are openly serving fried hilsa full of roe. The fish is on sale in eateries at Shatnal, Chhotaki, Mohanpur, Charkashim, Ekhlaspur, Ananda and Amirabad markets, raising questions about how well the ban is enforced.
Local sources say hilsa with roe is more in demand here than hilsa without, so the eateries charge more for it. Mohanpur market, about 300 metres from the Mohanpur river police outpost, houses the upazila sub-registry office, where more than 400 deeds involving about 800 parties are registered every Sunday and Monday. On Sunday (25 October), a registration day, fried hilsa was on open sale in the market's eateries.
Several schoolteachers on the Meghna bank said people who see the law broken should inform the upazila nirbahi officer or the fisheries officer, but fear of trouble keeps them quiet.
Motiur Rahman Chowdhury, a former president of the upazila anti-corruption committee, said open sale of hilsa in markets, hotels and restaurants during the ban seriously harms the growth of fish stocks. The area is a known hilsa breeding ground, he said, and needs strict monitoring and legal action against eateries serving the fish.
Senior upazila fisheries officer Swapan Chandra Dey said serving hilsa in hotels and restaurants inside a fishing-ban area is also strictly prohibited and those involved will face legal action. Upazila nirbahi officer Mahmuda Kulsum Moni, who heads the upazila task force, said conscious local people must also play a responsible part for the ban to work.
Reported by Shamsuzzaman Dolar, Ittefaq's Matlab Uttar correspondent.
Photo: Hilsa (ilish), Prabirghose / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Ittefaq
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